Empathica
by Mellermellon
Summary: With Sarah gone, Jareth doesn't know what to do. He has lost three of his most important objects, the crystals, and he can't reclaim them. Only one person truly understands the importance of the crystals and how to reclaim them, but they aren't talking.
1. Chapter 1

_Hey guys. : This is my first official, on display fan fiction that I'm currently writing--just little snippets here and there, you know the drill._

_Before I forget, I should add: Yes, I love commentary and suggestions. And, I do reply. : _

_And, of course, Labyrinth is property of Jim Henson. If Jareth and the Goblin Realm were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction about them. The song lyrics reprinted are property of Nightwish, mostly though to Tuomas. :_

_I hope you enjoy this story. : I should update often._

* * *

THE END

The songwriter's dead.  
The blade fell upon him  
Taking him to the white lands  
of empathica,  
of innocence  
Empathica  
Innocence

--"The Poet and the Pendulum", Nightwish

* * *

"You have no power over me."

The words echoed throughout his head. How could she…? How could he have been so foolish as to misplace it? How could she have possibly memorized an entire manuscript of such great importance?

And how could he have been so foolish as to have let one of the crystals leave his power? Burying his head in his hands, Jareth sunk into the Time Clock Ruins--quite literally--and found himself in the throne room. Everything was still there, the clock, the wine barrel, everything. How could it all have stayed?

"Jareth." and he looked up. A tall, deathly-blue pale woman stood in front of him, her dark hair flowing around her like ebony silk. "Jareth, we need to talk."

"And of what importance is that?" He spat, feeling his words fill with venom and hate. "You know what will happen, Delphina, you know. You warned me about this when I misplaced the manuscript, you warned me about challenging her, you warned me about everything because you knew that I--", he sputtered, "--I."

The king failed to end his statement. The woman's eyes narrowed, slanting even more to her pointed nose. "The sooner the better." She sighed. "What you did will..."

"It could destroy us."

* * *

Sarah woke up, her head pounding. She couldn't possibly forget what had happened last night, but it all seemed as if it were a dream.

She hit the ground rolling and wrapped her bedspread around her frame. The little red book, with its silver and gold embossed cover still sat on her desk calling her to open it again. _No_, she said to herself, _there is no way that I will allow you to get sucked up into that again. _Her hair was oily, not a good sign. Usually she took a shower at night, but the circumstances of her arrival home last night were so odd that she had fallen asleep as her friends tidied up her room.

Grabbing a fresh skirt and blouse, Sarah rushed into the bathroom. She quickly took a shower no time to do anything with her hair and grabbed her backpack. Karen shoved a piece of toast in her mouth on her way to the bus stop. Sarah mushily said her thanks and ran.

_Not a bad end for a Sunday afternoon_. She thought, grinning to herself. She sat in the seat right behind the bus driver, as usual. Not many friends to speak of save the one or two in English. She slunk down into her seat, hair ruffling up and skirt wrinkling. The bus driver looked up through a bad bouffant at Sarah. "You don't have that little red book with you." She said, ever smiling.

Sarah shook her head. "Not today. I've had enough to do with that book. For a long, long time." She added, nervously scraping the skin off her thumb. The bus driver chuckled. "Nothing like a good book, until it sets you off the edge."

_Right. Off the edge. Well, it definitely did that._

* * *

He stared into the globe. "There were five." He stated pointedly, "And there were five as of last night."

"Right. And that doesn't count the one that she broke, or the one you seem to have 'misplaced'." Delphina counted them off on her fingers. "That leaves three, Jareth. You can't afford to have only three crystals. You can't afford to let _them _know you only have two left." She chided, her voice growing slightly nasty. "Technically, you shouldn't have even put one into that damned book of yours."

"Yeah, a book that you wrote." He scoffed, snorting at the woman. She blinked, her mouth open for a rebuttal. "And don't even try to deny that you wrote it." She furrowed her eyes at him. "You still shouldn't have put a crystal in it."

"I was young! I was foolishly in love with the human world!" he droned, waving his hand in the air. "Besides, it was buried in some dusty bookstore. Nobody should have found it. Nobody found the other that escaped, and he wasn't even my fault. That was yours, and you know damn well that you didn't cover your tracks as well as I did."

She glowered. "_You _have already damaged three of your crystals, and _I _haven't even lost one. You've refused to even tell me where you lost the latest one."

Jareth clenched his fist. "I…I lost control."

* * *

"Miss Williams! I don't ever recall sleeping being allowed in my classroom, and I definitely don't allow it now! Right before Christmas, when a student of your caliber…"

Sarah rubbed her eyes. She had fallen asleep again. _I must have used more energy than I thought._

* * *

"YOU WHAT?"

Jareth hid his face in his hands. "You heard me. I…I lost control." He stated, gritting his teeth together.

Delphina started to pace the small room. "Jareth, how could you have lost control? I taught you better! Your magic--"

"My magic was of no use against her! You cannot have expected me to try and--"

"Yes! Yes, I do! Hell, even when one escaped from me, I managed to keep my cool! Jareth, this is bad. This is really, really terrible. Do you have any idea what you did?"

Jareth took a breath. Honestly, he had no idea. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Loosing the crystals was bad enough, he knew that. He could already see the world fuzzing up around the corners of his eyes. He took another deep breath, letting it out shakily. "N-no, I don't. Honestly, I don't."

* * *

"Honey. Honey, wake up. You're at your stop."

It was the bus driver, shaking her to her senses. Sarah rubbed her eyes and grabbed her backpack. _Right, asleep again. _"You okay?" the woman asked, patting her on her shoulder. "I've never seen you like this before."

Sarah faked a small smile. She was tired, and honestly could just use the sleep. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just a little sleepy, that's all." She nimbly tapped down the stairs and off onto her front lawn. Waving at the bus driver, she walked up the steps and into the house. Dropping her backpack, she whistled for Merlin. He didn't come.

"Merrrrrrrrrrrrrlin." She cooed, slapping her palm on her jeans. "Merlin, here boy."

"I don't appreciate being called that."


	2. Chapter 2

_I'd like to add something that AmericanWoman pointed out to me about the last chapter that may clear up some confusion. The five crystals that I've been mentioning are indeed the five crystals that Jareth is seen spinning right before the ball scene. There are five in his hands, the only five we've ever seen him use. :)_

_Oh, and a bit of clarification on this (you should catch it, though)--the section in bold is read by both of them. _

_Again, comments and suggestions are loved. And as always, Labyrinth is not mine, blahblahblah._

* * *

She blinked.

"W-what? Did you just talk?"

"I've always been talking, Sarah. I'm surprised that you've never heard me. Perhaps you weren't listening."

The shaggy, gray and white dog thumped his tail against the banister. "Surprise, surprise. The humans can finally understand the dogs. How ironic."

Sarah gulped. "I…I don't understand. I've never been able...I mean, have you always talked? "

"We've just been through this. Don't be stupid." Merlin said, licking her shoe. "Your dad has got supper on the go. Are we going to the park again? The last time we went, Karen left and you did too."

Sarah stopped in her tracks. "Wait." She said, trying to piece things together. "You mean yesterday?"

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. Dogs don't have a concept of time." The dog said, sneezing.

"So I was gone." Sarah said slowly, starting to piece the puzzle together. "For how long?"

"After you put me in the garage, Karen left and let me out. I saw an owl fly through your window, but I was too busy hiding under the porch. It was raining" and as an afterthought, he added "You owe me a bath."

"So I was gone. I must have really been spirited off." She said. _Yeah, that about covers it._

* * *

"Well, I'm not going to tell you. And you're going to have to figure out yourself." She said.

"Delphina--"

"Oh, Jareth. Shut it. You know you should have done your history homework ages ago. You've had the time."

"Yeah, well. You know it because you created most of it." He spat back at her. "I don't want to even start. That library is so dusty and dull. Besides, who'll oversee the goblins?"

"I will." She said, folding her arms across her chest.

Jareth couldn't muster up a response, so he stormed off to his chamber. _Stupid, stupid, stupid old bat. Telling me to take care of my crystals! They're my spinning glass balls, and I'll do whatever I want to with them._

_

* * *

_

It was screaming. Screaming so loudly and viciously and coming at her like a high pitched waterfall and dro--

"AHHHHHH!"

She sat up in bed. A nightmare usually wouldn't wake her, but this was--

Shaking, she curled back up into a ball. _It was just a story. _Sarah yawned to herself. _It was just a simple children's story. Nothing to worry about, a story is a story. _Still, she shuddered at the thought of her dream. It was scary, no denying that and Sarah hated scary dreams. She quickly put it out of her head and went to sleep.

* * *

"Nice, Delphina. Good way to torture me."

It was the day after. And he hated the day after anything. The day after his defeat was one thing, but the day after his forced hiatus and his defeat was another. And she had to be spinning her five in her hand while humming a strange little tune and sitting in _his _throne.

"You look like you have a hangover, Jareth. You couldn't possibly run a kingdom like this.", she scoffed. "Besides, you haven't even done your hair yet."

Jareth stammered. "I have…sensitive hair."

"Bull_shit_." She replied, twirling a strand of her own hair in her hand. "Now go start your history lesson."

With all the honor that he could muster, Jareth swung the woven blanket around him and started off to the library. Delphina's laughter could be heard all the way down the hallways, following him like waves.

* * *

"This. Is. Ridiculous." She said, picking it up off her carpet. "I didn't think that it would follow me back."

"Yeah, and a while ago I apparently couldn't talk." Merlin said, jumping onto her bed. "Besides, I think its all for the better. You can now actually feed me what I want to be fed. I could actually eat food fit for a dog, and not for some--"

"Yeah, yeah. We get the point." Sarah said, cupping the object in her hands. "Really, Merlin. If something like this is what gets you to talk, I have no use for it." For a moment, Sarah thought about throwing it out the window. It definitely wouldn't break, and it would be out of her hands forever. She couldn't muster the courage though. It was all part of _it _as much as it was a part of _him. _It would be like stealing someone's soul, and even though the mighty king might be able to steal a soul from a child Sarah couldn't ever do anything like that to Toby--or any other child, regardless of how much she disliked them.

Besides, it was a pretty little bauble. All shiny and clear, with pinky-purple-blue shiny lights dancing around in it. _It will show you your dreams_, he had claimed. Well, she had wished that she could understand Merlin, and it had happened. But she didn't like the dreams and the falling asleep that it seemed to have brought on.

Sighing, she left the crystal on her desk with the book and went downstairs for breakfast.

* * *

Jareth was halfway down the hall when he felt it. Like a rubber band had been squeezed around his chest, binding him from breathing. He stopped in his tracks. _That couldn't have been good. _He thought. _Delphina might be right. She might have caught on to something. I have to hand it to her, she does know her stuff. _

The moment had passed and he now continued down the hall. He couldn't think of what might have happened to him. He personally doubted it had to do with the girl, but she had tricked him once and could do it again. Besides, he obviously didn't know much about the crystals and as Delphina had pointed out; his subjects probably knew more about them than he did. And he didn't have any successors to the throne, which probably worried her as well.

Luckily for him, the goblins weren't too bright. Hopefully they wouldn't notice the change in rulers, and he could always kick out Delphina if he needed to. It wasn't as if they didn't know her, she had been their ruler before. He turned to his left and opened the library door before any more odd thoughts got into his head.

* * *

"Sarah? Are you feeling well? Her father asked over the mandatory cereal-toast-orange juice breakfast. He looked at her with concerned eyes.

Sarah smiled. "Yes, dad…just tired." And she spooned another bite of frosted flakes into her mouth. _No, I don't feel well at all. I've had terrible dreams, been falling asleep everywhere, and I just found a crystal ball on my bedroom floor and I don't know what to do with it!_

Her dad clucked his tongue. "You're staying home from school today. You can go to the library or whatever, but I want you staying away from school. You look bad Sarah. You need a day off. "

Karen opened her mouth to protest, but Mr. Williams lifted up his hand in protest. "Not now, Karen." He said, wiping the corner of his mouth with a napkin. He was scared for his eldest child. She looked almost translucent.

* * *

The library was dusty. The light spattered through, like speckles on a chicken egg. It was so dusty that he could smell the dust. He had forgotten how much he loved the library though, and it looked as it had the last time he had visited it. The red and gold interior was covered in even more dust, but it was so warm and welcoming that he couldn't resist.

However, he knew he had to so something about the crystals. Two left wasn't good, larger kingdoms had been destroyed by loosing just one. He was teetering on ground that had never been tested, and Delphina was trying to save his ass before it was too late.

* * *

She had walked all the way here, in the rain. She cursed at the rain, shaking her fist at it. It was worth the library, though. She knew exactly what she was looking for, but she had brought it in her backpack. The little book was too much trouble on its own, and as a second thought she grabbed the crystal and shoved it into her bag as well. She couldn't afford for Karen or Toby to find it without the knowledge of what it was worth.

His eyes gazed over the texts that appeared on the shelves. Most of them dealt with death and dismemberment of goblins and the history of kingdoms. Unfortunately there weren't very many history of magic books hanging around, Self protection and all that, blahblahblah "for the kingdom's own good" blahblahblah.

FOR SUBJECT PRESS 1

Sarah pressed the 1 key on the computer.

SUBJECT:

She typed in "CRYSTAL BALL"

SEE CRYSTAL BALL: DIVINATION Y/N?

Sarah hit the Y and pressed the enter button. A list of books popped up. She wrote down the book with the oldest publication date with a pen on her hand, picked up her bag, and rushed off to find it.

* * *

Jareth fingered through the texts. The only book that looked useful was large, old, and very heavy. And it had no index.

* * *

Sarah managed to find the book. It was a monster of a book; the librarian had stared when she asked for it. However, she felt that she needed to know what she was dealing with. Shuddering, she flipped through the pages, looking for it. It looked as if she would need to sit down, so she slowly walked over to one of the dark blue canvas chairs. She sat the book in her lap and unzipped her bag as she flipped through the pages. _Aha. Here we go. Crystal balls as used in divination. _

Still, no luck with the book even though he had been flipping pages for several moments. Sighing, he turned to the last page. There was no index, no glossary, and no table of contents. How was he supposed to figure out where it was in the book?

Sarah grinned._ I've caught up with you Jareth. Your stupid tricks won't plague me this time; I've got you cornered like a mouse._

_

* * *

_Frustrated, Jareth threw the book across the room. _Damn it. Why couldn't I have just let it be? If I hadn't said anything about not knowing anything about the in depth history of the ball, then I wouldn't have too--_

And the book had opened up to the right page. Jareth groaned, irony was not what he needed at this point.

* * *

_**Crystal balls have been around for thousands of years, used by all cultures and creatures alike. Usually made of quartz, these objects are used for seeing the past, future, and wishes of the user. The same ball, used by different people, can sometimes produce different seeing results. Crystal balls, if created by certain persons will form a magical contact with the owner making possession of the ball or balls in question by another painful by another being. When made properly, the crystals can sometimes form bonds and actions that the bonder wishes. When broken, the ball becomes erratic and unfit for any use. The pieces of the ball should then be discarded and never used or formed into another ball. According to Goethe, the crystal ball is used by the fabled king of elves to seduce children. **_

* * *

Sarah blinked. Carefully and quietly, she unzipped her backpack. Ruffling around, she found what she was looking for. Grinning, she pulled it out of her bag and held it to the light. The polished surface gleamed softly in the sunlight.


	3. Chapter 3

_I'd like to say a longer chapter, but I haven't gotten far enough in the story to make a nice, long chapter. :_

_Holla to the one subscriber and the comments. Hehe. _

_And as always, the story is unfolding. Theres something in here that I hope you catch. :). Kudos to anybody who can tell me what it is. :) _

_And as always. Jareth doesn't belong to me, damn it. :(_

* * *

Jareth screamed.

And he didn't know why. His chest was being compacted again, tiny rivulets of white ice pain searing him between the ribs and poking him in the flesh. He couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything as the pain sent him through a waving fuzzing tunnel.

Then there was white light, and a window. He could see shelves of books, and--

_Oh god. _

* * *

She smiled at the ball. "You're a bit more trouble than I think you're worth, Jareth. But I'll keep you. Or at least, what the book says is part of you." Laughing quietly to herself, she left the book on the table, placed the ball in her backpack, and left the library.

* * *

He was on his back, breathing heavily. Delphina was standing above him. She looked a tad bit concerned; a cold cloth was soaking his head. He tried to sit up, but a headache rattled his brain and he couldn't think.

"Jareth." She said softly. "Get off the floor."

He couldn't.

"So the crystals think they belong to me?" he said, furrowing his brow. Delphina rolled her eyes. "Who did you get them from?" she asked, prodding him with her foot. Jareth groaned. "You know where I got them from, don't be stupid."

She nodded. "And who gave them to said benefactor?" she said, smiling and still prodding him with her foot. He rolled his eyes. "The benefactor's mother." He mumbled, keeping his eyes to the ground.

"That's right. Now, get up. I can't afford to have you lying around all day like a wet bag of sand. You'll still have more to learn, more that you haven't figured out even though it is--I said, GET UP!"

* * *

Sarah sat on her bed, face buried in her pillows with Lancelot on her head. She could smell dinner cooking, but she wasn't much into eating at the moment. Her father would be suspicious, though. She didn't feel sick, she felt great. Better than she had before at least, before the Labyrinth.

_But the crystal. _

The crystal was the least of her worries, at least at the moment. Still, it was mildly entertaining, to think that it pained Jareth in some way. That she had somehow stolen a part of him--and that somebody named Goethe had seen him in some way.

That was the confusing part. This Goethe fellow had said that the elf king had used crystals as a way to seduce young children, not the goblin king. And goblins were different from elves, very different. There weren't any elves in Jareth's Labyrinth or any as far as she knew. Just some stray chickens and lots of goblins.

* * *

"How long has he been unconscious?"

Delphina asked a young goblin who was holding an antique lamp. The goblin blinked her bulbous brown eyes. "Ever since you brought him here, ma'am, he's just been breathing. Nothing more, nothing less."

Delphina frowned. "Have you given him anything? Any food, any water?" The goblin shook her head. "No, miss. Nothing. He hasn't called for anything, either. Or anyone.", she quickly added. Delphina nodded. "Thank you, Pipaluk." She added, for fear of offending the goblin. "You will be needed, at least for the night. You are welcome to ring--"and a small, silver bell appeared on the table beside them, "--for anything you may need. And for god's sake, tell me if he speaks."

"Yes, ma'am." The goblin said, bowing. Delphina nodded her thanks and quickly walked out of the room. _Good, god Jareth. What kind of girl did you get yourself into? _

* * *

There were balloons, but she didn't feel excited. And cake and ice cream, but she still didn't feel like it.

Sarah Williams sat at the table on her sixteenth birthday, mulling over things that had happened in the past few months as friends and family surrounded her at the table. She had not taken the crystal out of the backpack ever since she found out what it did at the library. There was no use for it, or at least she kept telling herself this, and the ball sat everyday in the bottom of the backpack collecting goldfish crumbs and other snack related items.

A spoonful of ice cream hit her cheek. Sarah smiled; her father's sister was visiting her for her birthday and brought the twins, Cara and Mia, over as well. Sarah loved the three year olds, but wasn't fond of their suppertime antics. Her aunt couldn't have possibly left them, but Sarah had wished that she would have gotten a babysitter or put them down for a nap.

"Cara! Apologize to your cousin!" her aunt said, brandishing a spoon in the face of the twin. Cara looked at the spoon, cross eyed. "Sowry Sawrah." She said, looking at her with wide, brown eyes. _Like a goblin, _Sarah thought, and then shook her head to herself. _Snap out of it. You're never going back there. You can't. It's impossible. _

"You're forgiven, Cara." Sarah said sheepishly, rolling her eyes and smiling. Cara giggled. Sarah's aunt looked at her with a rushed, grateful smile. "Why don't you two go with Sarah and she'll show you where to play."

Sarah nodded. She unlatched Cara and Mia from the double highchair, put one on each hip, and walked up the stairs to her bedroom. The twins automatically ran for the stuffed animals. Sarah smiled as Mia hugged Lancelot, the bear, and Cara grabbed Arthur, a giraffe. Deciding the two were fine, she unzipped her backpack to grab her history homework. Grabbing a pencil, she started to circle answers out of the workbook.

* * *

Pipaluk had stayed true to her word. She sat by the goblin king's side as Delphina ruled from behind a veil, posing as Jareth. Jareth hadn't said a word for the past month or two, always breathing erratically and resisting the water she tried to force past his lips. It was rather ironic, she thought, that a goblin was to care for a goblin king. However, she put this out of her mind and continued to work on her needlepoint.

She thought she heard him move, so she looked up. His eyelids flickered but he didn't say anything. The silver bell lay unused, every once in a while she wiped off the spider webs while she heard the chickens clucking in the courtyard.

* * *

Sarah was on page three of her homework when a glint of light caught her eye. The twins had gotten into something. She was working on her homework, but she didn't want to stop working. Little strings of purple lights started dancing on the walls and reflections of yellow and orange and--

_Shit. _

She had forgotten to zip up her bag.

* * *

His eyes flickered open. He was in his room, but it looked more like a sickbay. A young goblin sat by him, working on a needlepoint of a home and a yard. The sound of his breathing must have startled her; she looked up and gasped.

"Sire! You're awake! Can you speak?"

Jareth shook his head.

"I must ring for Lady Delphina, she asked for you once you woke up!"

Jareth rolled his eyes. _That sounds like her. _He thought, racking his brain. _The last thing I remember is reading that passage in the library…about the crystals. The crystals!_

And the king blacked out again.

* * *

Sarah panicked. She looked under her bed, but Cara and Mia weren't there. She ran downstairs and looked in the family room and in the kitchen, but they weren't there. They weren't in the bathroom, in Toby's nursery, in her father's bedroom. They had simply--

And then she saw it. The crystal was outside of her backpack, sitting innocently on the floor and gleaming like it had just been polished. Sarah let out a strangled cry. _That bastard. That double crossing, two timing bastard! How dare he! _

She let out a muffled scream. Running downstairs, she grabbed a pair of her father's gardening gloves and slipped them on. She dumped out her backpack, leaving a pencil, her purse, a blanket, and her copy of The Labyrinth. Sarah carefully picked up the ball with a gloved hand--it didn't do anything, she had anticipated that, and hid it behind her.

Running downstairs, she found her father. "Dad." She said, breathing heavily, "Dad, I'm going out to the park. The twins are sleeping in my room--"_obviously a lie _"so don't open the door."

Her dad smiled and nodded. "Take Merlin with you." He added, smiling. Sarah groaned, but grabbed the leash. Merlin thumped his tail and barked, but of course all Sarah heard was "YAYAYAYAYA!"

She ran outside. It was raining. _Ick, he always does everything in the rain. _Merlin almost dragged her outside. Sarah almost let go of the crystal.

"Sarah. You lied." The dog said, cocking his head to one side. "You lied to father."

Sarah let out a long breath. "Yes, Merlin, I did. But this is a matter of importance. You remember when I left for a long time? Right before you started talking to me?"

Merlin sneezed.

"Right. Well, I have to go back, Merlin. And for the same reason that I had to go last time." And she clenched her fist around the ball. "I need you, Merlin. I need you to guard my bedroom door and keep everybody from knowing that I've left. Can you do that?" Sarah asked.

"For a biscuit." Merlin replied, wagging his tail. Sarah rolled her eyes. "You'll get ten. Now go do it!"

Merlin rushed off in the rain.

Sarah sat on the porch swing. She put the ball in her lap. _I don't know how they did this, _she thought, _but they obviously aren't here. So they must be there. _Gulping, she pulled off her gloves and wrapped her hands around the ball.

* * *

Pipaluk had just returned to her needlepoint when the king started flailing around on the bed. It sounded as if he had stopped breathing and little dots of sweat beaded his forehead. Alarmed, she rang for Delphina.

_It was black. Black darkness, and then he could see her face. Green glass eyes were staring at him and long, dark brown hair. She had to come back, she had to! There was a deep anger and sadness hidden in her face as she took off a glove and put her hand straight on the ball--how it BURNED--and--_

* * *

"Take me to the goblin city." Sarah said, staring at the crystal. She didn't budge. Racking her brain for ideas, she tried another. "I want to be outside the gates of Jareth's castle. NOW."

She still didn't budge. _The twins left this way. There has to be a way to get back there without wishing a child back_.

Sarah groaned. _It can't be that easy. Jareth, you idiot._

"I wish--I wish--I wish to be in the gardens of Jareth's castle." She kept her eyes squeezed shut.

* * *

Delphina ran into the room. "Pipaluk? What did he do?" she said, pushing the beaded curtain away. "He started twisting in his blanket, miss. Moving around in the blankets like he was possessed, miss. Awfully scary, that was." Delphina clucked her tongue. "He is closer to that girl than I thought." She muttered, shaking her head. She was about to leave when another goblin, Arvin, came through the curtain.

"My lady," he said, running out of breath. Delphina turned around. "Yes, Arvin?"

Arvin paused, trying to find the right words.

"My lady, there is a girl in the king's garden."


	4. Chapter 4

_Hello, dahlings. I'm still waiting for your guesses and ideas for chapters; I don't even know what is happening as I write. :)_

_I think I might be able to promise another chapter tonight, if anybody actually reads this. :)_

_As always, disclaimer except for the characters I've created. :)_

_Toodleoo!_

_And AmericanWoman? Yes, yes it could. :)_

* * *

Sarah opened her eyes and looked around. _I've made it _she said to herself, _I've made it again. As if once wasn't enough, the sneaky bastard had to take Cara and Mia. _Shaking her head, she stood up and wiped the dirt off her jeans. She carefully slipped the garden gloves back on her hands and picked the crystal back up, holding it carefully in both hands. This part of the Labyrinth wasn't very labyrinthine at all, and as far as she could tell it was hidden from the main part of the Labyrinth itself, almost as if it was built that way.

She took a few steps and noticed something else slightly odd about the garden, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She could see goblins running between the doors carrying towels, trays of half eaten food, and water jugs. The dolphin shaped fountain was sprinkling blue, glittery water--a sure sign that she was in the correct place.

* * *

Delphina blinked.

"A girl. In the garden. Arvin, are you sure?" she asked. Jareth flipped back over on his stomach. All eyes shifted to the king, then quickly back to Arvin. The elderly goblin nodded. "Yes, ma'am. A girl. Not a child, but a girl."

Delphina blinked. Turning around, she shook Jareth. "Jareth." She said as calmly as she could, "Jareth. JARETH."

He groaned.

"JARETH." She yelled, almost pushing him off the bed this time, "JARETH. THERE IS A GIRL IN YOUR COURTYARD. A GIRL. IN THE GAR--"

Another goblin entered the room. Delphina groaned and put her hand to her face. "What. Is."

The goblin quickly left, but he also left something--or rather someone behind.

"GET OFF ME!"

It was a girl. A tall, somewhat slender girl with dark brown hair and wide, pale green eyes wearing canvas trousers and a plain half-chemise. Delphina was confused, but she imagined that she was not nearly as confused as the girl. She looked young, younger than an adult but too old to be one of Jareth's experiments. She frowned.

"What is your name?" she asked, in a still, monotone voice. The girl's eyes narrowed. "Why don't you ask him—"she said, jerking her thumb and head towards Jareth, "--and while you're at it, ask _him _why he had to take my baby brother and my cousins."

Delphina crossed her arms. "Miss, you are in the bedroom of the king. I'd suggest that you keep your tone down, especially in a time like this. When the KING is--"

"Ill? Misinformed? Dead?" the girl spat, obviously irritated. "I think not. At least, if the one book that I managed to grab information out of was correct, which I'm pretty sure is dubious, and even then that is no excuse--" and she stomped her foot "NO EXCUSE FOR TAKING MY BABY BROTHER AND COUSINS." She screeched. Delphina was tempted to cover her ears; the noise was so loud and irritating.

"I assure you, he would do nothing of the sort--at least, not twice. Not like that." Delphina carefully responded.

"Oh yeah?" the girl asked, peeling off one of her gloves. "Then can you explain this?"

To Delphina's horror, she pulled out the last thing that she expected.

A crystal ball, just like the one that Jareth had lost was sitting in her gloved palm. Delphina's eyes widened.

"Where did you get that?" she asked, hissing out the question. The girl's eyes narrowed again, grinning as she put it in her ungloved hand. "I don't really know why it appeared in my bedroom, but I'm assuming it was a gift from _him. _Besides, why would it be important? I know that he owns more than two--"Delphina crossed her arms as the girl said this, "--don't look at me like that, I know he does. I've seen them--and I've been doing a bit of research and it looks as if they're important."

Delphina sighed impatiently. "Fine, you may have it. As long as you don't--"

The girl placed the crystal in her ungloved hand, cupping it like a tennis ball and staring into the center of it. The split second afterwards, Jareth started writhing on the bed, shouting and tangling himself in the covers. The girl stared at him slack jawed, but still did not remove the ball from her ungloved hand.

Delphina rushed to the side of the bed, pulling covers off and trying to calm him down while Pipaluk pressed cold cloths to his head. The girl continued to hold the crystal in her ungloved hand, staring at the king.

"Will you put that thing back in your other hand, girl." Delphina cried, trying to restrain the king. The girl snapped out of her vegetative state. "No." she replied flatly, "Not until he answers my questions and tells me where Cara and Mia are, then he might be able to bargain for the crystal."

Delphina whipped around. She had never been so angry, so insulted by anything else in her life. He was obviously in a great amount of pain which would have swerved anybody's judgment, but this girl must have had quite a grudge against Jareth.

"If you will not at least put the crystal in your ungloved hand, then will you at least listen to why you need to?"

"No." the girl responded. "I already have a great guess why it happens, and quite frankly I don't give a flying fuck what happens to him."

Delphina was now thoroughly done with the girl. She had bargained with her, the girl had refused. She really couldn't afford to have her in here to test her temper, not at this very moment at least. "Arvin." She called coolly, and the old goblin looked up. "Take this girl--"she paused to press a cloth to Jareth's forehead "to the dungeons. The special ones, if you please."

The girl's eyes widened. "Better not be the oubliette." She muttered, palming the crystal in the gloved hand. The king stopped writhing long enough for Delphina to turn and glare at the girl.

"No, not the oubliette, at least not for today." The girl grinned. Arvin quickly pulled her arm up behind her back to keep her from spinning around and striking at him and quickly pulled her down to the dungeons.

* * *

It was cold and wet. Too cold for her tastes, she decided, but almost not cold enough for a dungeon. Sarah knew escape was futile in a magic dungeon. The choice was a smart one; if she had been able to she would have kept the crystal in her hand and grinned to herself in her cell, but the pulsating purple bars on her cell were a dead giveaway.

Besides, she saw the non magical cells. They were near the front of the dungeon's long chamber; a chamber built of cold gray and brown stone. Moss grew between the cracks and small rodents ran along the sides of her cell. They weren't rats, but she supposed that anything that spent their life in Jareth's castle wasn't really a rat--and she shuttered at the thought.

He had deserved it, really. She couldn't find Cara and Mia anywhere. She had tried to call their names, but nothing responded. There was no Hoggle to bail her out this time, and no Ludo either. Sarah slammed against the harsh walls in anger. She still couldn't understand why he would continue to steal children, even after--

How long had he been like that anyways? And who was this woman, Delphina? Sarah had never met her while she was in the Labyrinth, but she looked older and she had to suppose that she had been in the castle but out of sight. There were lots of things that she must have assumed, she realized, about the castle that weren't true. She had supposed that Jareth had kept some dungeons in working order, but not dungeons that repelled magic from working within their walls. It was possible, she guessed, the knocking doors had been guarded by magic, or at least with some sort of spirit embedded in the knockers. The door switches were just sentries that had been ordered, by Jareth, to guard the door.

Sarah shook her head. Her thoughts went back to Delphina. She was an exquisitely beautiful woman. Her hair was long and straight, her blue-gray eyes had sparkled when she was talking about Jareth. Delphina's skin had an unearthly blueish glow; something that she supposed had to do with her magic. Or her race, she thought. Sarah had always assumed that the Labyrinth was a sort of kingdom with surrounding areas, but kingdoms are always surrounded by other kingdoms. She still made no sense, the way that she talked about Jareth was soft, but as she had spoken to the goblins and Sarah was very blunt and harsh. It was strange, she decided, and Sarah had naturally assumed that with Jareth out of order, Delphina was obviously the one in charge.

She sighed. She was hungry, she had no idea how long she had been stuck in the dungeons, and she wanted to go home. She wanted Cara and Mia to be safe and her father not to worry about where she was. _Merlin must be having a hell of a time guarding my room_ and she chuckled to herself. Still, she wanted to sleep in her own bed and forget about this Labyrinth once and for all.

There was a clatter down the hallway, a metallic sounding clatter and some cursing. She supposed that one of the goblins had been sent to feed her. She had gathered, from Arvin's grumblings, that there was at least one goblin tied to the dungeons and the care of imprisoned people. Sarah had not been able to catch his name, so she was still suspicious of whatever was coming down the hallway.

* * *

His head quivered and jerked to his left. He rolled over, unsure of where he was. He could see Delphina in the corner, reading a poetry book of some sort. He was obviously in his bedroom; he could see the curtains that shaded the bed, but Pipaluk was sitting by his side in a stupor while Delphina read her book.

"Delphina." He called, softly. She looked up. "Oh, thank god you're awake. There has been an important…well, something has come up."

Jareth covered his eyes with his hand. "What is it?" Delphina placed her book on her lap. "Careful, Jareth. You've been unconscious for about a--what would you say, Pipaluk?"

Pipaluk blushed at being asked such a question. "You've been in and out of it for the past month and a half, sire. More so in the last week than ever, except for a few hours ago and the incident, sire. But that has been taken care of, sire, and should not bother you any longer."

Jareth's brows furrowed. "And incident, Pipaluk? What kind of incident?" and he looked up towards Delphina.

"Nothing of your concern, Jareth." She said, waving her hand and burying herself in her book again. "Just a girl; we'll discuss it--"

Jareth's heart stopped mid beat. _No. It can't be her. She couldn't have possibly found a way back._

"What did she look like?" He stated, bluntly. "How tall was she?" Delphina groaned. "I've told you, Jareth. It is of no im--"

"DON'T. Defy me." Jareth said with a snarl. "If it is not of any importance, then why--"

He stopped mid sentence to listen closely. Something was coming from the dungeons; he could hear a small voice coming up through the ducts that connected the rooms in the castle. Delphina stood, but Jareth put his hand out towards her.

"It's not fair!" a small voice shrilled through the walls. "It's not fair; he can't be allowed to do this to anybody, least of all twice!"

Jareth's face paled, and jumping out of bed with a blanket wrapped around him he ran off to the dungeons. Delphina followed, muttering weak protests.


	5. Chapter 5

_Heyguysheyyyyyy. Thanks for reading. :)_

_The chapters are gettng longer and longer; this one I had two stopping points on but kept on going. _

_Again, disclaimer. Except for ones that I've created, of course. _

_Enjoy!_

* * *

"It's not fair!" Sarah wailed, pouring out her tears to the clumsy goblin, Loki, who had brought her supper. "It's not fair; he can't be allowed to do this to anybody, least of all twice!" Sarah sobbed into her shirt. Loki was unsure of what to do, he hadn't housed a human in the dungeons for years; least of all a human girl. He cocked his head to one side, unsure of what to say.

"Miss Sarah, I'm sure that his majesty would not be as heartless as to take three young children from one family." The old goblin carefully stated, pausing over words and tripping over formalities. "Besides, I'm sure that Delphina wasn't that horrible to you, miss."

Sarah hiccupped. "She was, Loki, she was. She just didn't seem concerned about children at all, just about _him. _Him and his damn hair and his damn, stupid self with his stealing children and his stupid pants."

She hiccupped again, unsure of how to finish anything that she was saying. Sarah was angry, tired, upset, and most of all hungry. She didn't blame Loki at all, but she hadn't eaten a bite at her birthday party and had only a chunk of cheese for lunch. Loki had brought her some stale bread and water; a delicacy for a goblin, as she remembered, but it wasn't at all appetizing to her. Not at this moment, at least, and she knew that she wouldn't get to beg an edible meal out of Delphina, and definitely couldn't get anything out of Jareth.

Loki's head turned. "Miss Sarah, I think you have a visitor." He said. Sarah turned her head towards the back of the cell. "I don't want to see anyone." She mumbled into her elbow, narrowing her eyes. She heard footsteps on the straw that covered the floor. Loki patted Sarah on the head. "Miss, I think you should see this visitor."

* * *

Jareth was stunned. She was Sarah, he had suspected that. He saw the crystal in the corner of the cell; she had probably placed it there once she had figured out that her cell blocked magic. She sat curled in the corner, Loki patting her on her head. Delphina was quick on Jareth's heels as he took another step into the cell. "Jareth," she hissed, "the girl is no concern of yours. Leave her be."

Of course, he paid no attention to her. Sarah hadn't done anything, at least anything that could have potentially harmed Delphina. She was still beautiful, and he suspected that nothing about her spirit had changed either. She couldn't distract him though, not this time. Shaking his head, he took another step forward wrapping his blanket around him in the process.

"Sarah." He said, hoping that the attraction didn't come out in his voice. Sarah's head whipped around, spreading her long hair around her face. He noticed that it was wavy instead of stick straight this time, but he shook her appearance out of his head. _She rejected you. It's all over; get it out of your head._

Her eyes narrowed and she stood up. "You." She said with malice in her voice. "You back stabbing, vile, incompetent, asshole!"

She was shrieking at the top of her lungs; Jareth could smell her hate. He was confused, but he kept his back straight. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Delphina fought to keep herself silent, but Jareth held her back with one hand. "I haven't done anything to you; at least, not in the past month and a half."

Her mouth gaped, like a fish. "You dirty little liar! Where are Cara and Mia then, if you haven't done anything to them?"

"Cara and _who_? I haven't heard of them, and besides, I've been out of commission for at least the past week and a half, if you haven't noticed."

"And I've been here for the past couple of hours, and you've acted like a total ass for the three minutes I've been talking with you!"

"Then what is your purpose here?" he asked coldly. Delphina muttered several comments of disgust and he quietly kicked her calf.

Sarah's eyes narrowed. "Your crystal followed me home."

"Well I'm glad it was in safe hands." He snarled. She ignored the comment.

"Today is my birthday. And my cousins were at home, Cara and Mia. They managed to get into my bedroom, find the crystal, and somehow managed to transport themselves here and I know—"

She paused to take a breath and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I know that you had something to do with it. You and those damn crystals; somehow it managed to transport them here."

Jareth contemplated this. Sarah was obviously upset and by the look of it, hungry. He had no idea where Cara and Mia were, though he guessed that her assumption about the crystal was right. He hadn't found anything in the one book about the crystals being used for transportation, but he didn't doubt that they were at the root of the problem.

"And now whoever that is--"and she pointed to Delphina with her index finger "has insisted on shutting me away in this crapshoot of a dungeon--"

Jareth couldn't restrain Delphina any longer. Delphina shook her long hair down her shoulders. "First off." She said, shoving Jareth aside and slapping the Sarah's finger out of Jareth's face, "I did not insist on shutting you in the dungeon--"

"Yes, you did. You refused to answer my questions."

"Only because you put it in your bare hand, and that was obviously not solving anything--"

"He woke up, didn't he? And besides, you aren't the one in charge here. Jareth is the goblin king, and I haven't even heard of you! You weren't around when I was chasing Toby around in that god forsaken stair room, you weren't there when he tricked me into going to this crazy ball, you weren't there when he stopped me at those floating ruins--"

"How dare you insult me!" Delphina screeched. "You cannot tell me where I have been, girl!"

Jareth was finding this quite amusing, but he knew he had to step in. "Delphina." He said.

"What?!" she yelled, spinning towards him. Jareth smirked.

"She is right. You weren't here--at least, she didn't meet you while she was anywhere in the Labyrinth. And if this is any way to show how you've acted towards each other--"Sarah started to protest, but Jareth silence her with a look, "--yes, you too, then I'm glad. You've thoroughly annoyed me, as well as Loki."

Loki was enjoying himself, but he obviously didn't object to the king's statement.

"You are obviously hungry--yes, both of you don't protest Delphina--and I'm hungry, too. I don't recall eating anything in the past week--"

"Like stealing children." Sarah spat.

"I haven't admitted to 'stealing' children, or at least your two." Jareth said, rebutting her snarky comment. "And besides, you can't prove that any of them were at one point children, and they couldn't tell you if they were at one point anyways."

He could see her eyes widen. _Good. That'll keep her thinking, at least for an hour._

Delphina crossed her arms. "Get to the point, Jareth."

"I'm trying to get over the shock of somebody wandering into my garden on their own, much less this someone. Someone that you obviously haven't introduced yourself to yet and she not to you." He snapped. "And I'm also trying to get over the shock of someone over twice her age fighting with her over her anger with me, which at the moment, seems rather well put, even for something that I am still confused about.

"Yeah, but--"

"Delphina." Jareth said wearily, "Just. Shut. Up."

Delphina did, but not without shooting him several dirty looks. "Before I was interrupted." He said, coolly looking at both women.

"Both of you are obviously delirious, for one reason or the other. I'm hungry enough to eat a Firey, and both of you could use some food." Delphina didn't protest, but Jareth saw her eyes narrow at the prospect at being beaten. "Yes, you too Delphina."

Sarah turned around. "I don't want anything, at least not from you except for Cara and Mia." She said. He suspected that he could hear her crying, but he knew she would cover up the tears. So would he, but he shook the thought out of his head.

Delphina chuckled. "What would it matter? I don't mind not having the prawn at the table; the only thing she does is argue."

"Yes, and she does a damn good job of it as well. I've had to snap back at you far too many times this evening. You are obviously hungry."

Delphina bit her tongue. She was hungry, yes. But not enough to let Jareth toss her around like this. He shouldn't be able to do this, but he did have the right.

"Sarah, you are going to be required to come to dinner. You don't have to eat if you don't want to, but your presence is demanded." He stated, rewrapping the blanket around him. "It is far too cold for you down here, and I am sure that at least some food would help you."

"No." she said flatly.

"Sarah." He said, dangerously cold. "Sarah, **don't** defy me."

She turned around slowly, cocking her head to the left. Tear stains were left on her face, but they seemed to have stopped. "You said that the last time, you know."

Jareth stopped. "Yes, I suppose I might have." He said slowly. "Still, the demand remains. You are to come to dinner, whether or not you choose to eat anything. It is dreadfully cold--"

"That explains the blanket."

He glared at her, "--and not suitable for you. You are still to stay in the castle, but I will find quarters for you somewhere else. Possibly a goblin to see after you--don't protest, there are certain procedures that I am required to go through while keeping a girl in the castle--and you are obviously cold; your lips are blue, and hungry."

She was shivering as well. "If I had half the mind, I would give you my blanket. But quite frankly, I don't feel like it. And I have plenty of reasons not to trust you with my things."

"And you with mine." She spat. Jareth paused; she had gotten him in a corner over that one. "Yes, I suppose so." He sighed. "The demand still stands, and you should stop trying to talk your way out of it."

Sarah forcefully sighed. "Fine. But I won't enjoy it."

_There she is. _He thought, smiling to himself. _A Sarah that I recognize._

Delphina was still not convinced. "If you even try and touch that crystal--"she spat, "you'll be sorry."

Jareth rolled her eyes. "Nonsense, Delphina. She can't even possibly grasp what she is doing." He smirked in her direction. Sarah's eyes narrowed.

"I'm not giving it back." She said. By now she had placed the crystal back in her vest pocket. "I haven't asked you to give it back as of yet. I'm not going to assume that you're going to give it back; I'm not that stupid." Jareth responded.

Delphina hissed. "Jareth, get on with it. You're stalling."

Sarah took a step forward. "Let's go. Your _mother _is going to kill something if we don't go."

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the cell, almost flying towards the kitchens with Delphina close on their heels.

* * *

_To AmericanWoman (because I'm too lazy to respond on the panels): _

_Most of what you've said will (eventually) be found out. _

_And I don't think she has; she seems to totally ignore any common sense. :)_


	6. Chapter 6

_Hey guys. :)_

_I'm really sorry about the long wait. A week isn't good during the summer. During school, yes. But summer? Ugh. _

_I was at a mission thing for "church" for a week--really fun, really HOT. And then I lost my jump drive with this chapter on it. I realized I didn't really like it anyways, when I thought about it, so I rewrote it at about 1:30 in the morning. For the most part. _

_I went to the Breaking Dawn party. Bought Eclipse. Lol. _

_But I couldn't sleep, and after I read AmericanWoman's comment, I decided to add some things. Clear some rough patches up, while the chapter I had written just created more unsturdy things. Again, this is just a bit of a teaser for the chapters to come, I PROMISE that mroe S&J time will come up--it has to, no? Espically with an M rating! _

_I might get another longer chapter up this eavenig. Toodleoo!_

_disclaimer_

_commentbeg_

* * *

Jareth's head was filled with swirling tendrils of thought.

_How could she have known…Is she joking? Blast it, why can't I just find the children and let her go? What am I supposed to do with a teenage girl? Why can't I just ignore her and why…?_

"No bog?" Sarah quipped. It was only then that he noticed he had stopped. He blinked at her in surprise. Delphina was pattering up the stairs behind them; the kitchens were a long way off. _The kitchens? Why the blasted kitchens? This girl is the worst girl that you could possibly give yourself away to, Jareth. _

"What?" He responded, gripping even tighter on her wrist. She winced in pain but he didn't let go.

"The bog." She replied. "You know, the smelly one. With the strange farting rocks." She rolled her eyes at him. Delphina was behind her now, looking cross and confused.

"Er. The bog…"

"…is under construction." Delphina replied with a deadpan tone, "The dog died. Jareth, release her." She replied.

Jareth let go of her wrist and Sarah snatched away from him, wringing it in her other hand. He could still sense the hatred coming off of her. She scowled back as Delphina placed her hand on Sarah's arm.

She looked at Jareth. He had never looked so frazzled, still wrapped in that ridiculous blanket and fighting with a teenage girl. Delphina supposed that she didn't look any better at all, but the girl looked very frightened and tired.

"Delphina." Jareth retorted. "Don't you dare put her in the dungeons again."

"I'm not going to. I didn't know her, and placement in the dungeons was proper protocol, but now since it is bluntly obvious that you have some association with her, she can have a room."

Jareth snorted. "So kind of you." He responded, tightening up the blanket around him. Delphina rolled her eyes at him. "Go and…eat something." Jareth whipped around and banged into the kitchen doors. She rolled her eyes.

Sarah suspiously glared at Delphina. This woman had gone from rude and short tempered to…well, she supposed that she couldn't call it welcoming or polite, but a room was nice.

The air stung on her wrist. He had left an odd burn mark where his fingers had gripped it so tightly. Delphina grabbed her arm to look at it, furrowed her brows, and muttered something under her breath. They felt better, but the mark still appeared. Sarah cleared her throat. "Couldn't Pipaluk do something about it?" Delphina raised her head. "No," she replied regretfully, "This is not something Pipaluk could heal. I'm going to have to talk to Jareth about touching you, that can't be good for your health."

"I'm pretty sure that Jareth is bad for anybody's health, let alone sanity." She snorted, holding her arm limp against her body. Delphina's face contorted into a look of pained amusement, then it settled into a form of contentment. "And will you control your scent? I could smell you from the gardens. That can't be good, either."

"Oh." Sarah responded, unsure. "Um. Okay." She wasn't sure how she could control scent, but she tried to repress her feelings. Delphina instantly relaxed. "Good girl."

"Sarah." Sarah responded. Delphina nodded. "Sarah. Okay." She turned around and motioned for Sarah to follow.

* * *

Jareth had grabbed a hunk of bread and angrily was chewing it as he made it back to his room by one of the many secret passageways in the castle. He was confused, tired, and very dizzy. He sat down on his bed, confused. Meanwhile, Delphina was giving her a bed and a shower and who knows what else. At least it would get the awkwardness out of the way.

* * *

Sarah held her wrist against her chest as she followed Delphina down the winding stone passageway. The stone here was cleaner than the stone in the dungeon. It was all very curious; she wondered if Jareth could have transformed children into stone as well.

Delphina stopped, inserting a key into an aged brass keyhole. The door swung open. "Go ahead. Go inside, not many other rooms in the castle for guests except for this one." Delphina pressed the key into her hand as Sarah entered the room.

It was nice, she supposed. Not at all like a hotel. The floor was still stone, but with rugs over the most of it. The bed was decent, a vanity and what she guessed was a closet door were on the opposite side of the room. There was a hallway that led to what she supposed was a bathroom. She smiled grimly. It was all much too grand, much too real. She was not here to stay in the castle, merely to find Cara and Mia. "I…I just want to find Cara and Mia." She stammered at Delphina. "Nonsense." Delphina replied, waving her hand in the air. "The labyrinth is dangerous at night. I seriously doubt that you want to go into it again, least of all at night." Sarah furrowed her brows, but didn't respond. Delphina must have taken this as a sign of compliance. "If you need help, you can ring for a goblin. You know Pipaluk and Arvin, there are a lot of goblins running around here."

"But—"

"We'll find them. I'm not even sure where they are, this has never really happened before. If you need anything else, soap, food, clothes--"

"Why are you so nice to me?" Sarah politely interrupted. Delphina paused. "I--well, you came in screaming. What was I supposed to think?"

Sarah nodded. It was logical enough, she supposed. "Why don't you just take the crystal away from me? I'm not trying to bait you or anything," she quickly added, "but it seems odd. A bit." Delphina smiled wearily at the girl.

"It is not mine to take." She simply replied. Sarah blinked. Delphina nodded and quickly left the room.

* * *

Jareth was playing with his remaining crystals as Delphina entered the room, closing the door behind. He noticed her, but didn't pay much attention as she quietly crossed the room. He was too busy staring at his remaining crystals. "So." She said quietly.

"Did the dog die?" Jareth responded quietly, still staring into the crystals. "No." Delphina answered. She stared into the crystals from behind Jareth's shoulder. "I don't think her newest batch of young ones are in our kingdom." She murmured. Jareth nodded. "I'm not sure where they are. They could be anywhere; I can't see them at all."

Delphina frowned. "It would have been easier to find them. If you hadn't--"

"What?" Jareth asked, turning the crystal around in his hand.

"Fallen in love with her."

* * *

_:)_


End file.
